Sky Dictates - The Leagues Obey - Football Dies

The televised games list up until the end of November has been issued. It does not look very favourable to more than half of the clubs in the League.

Arsenal start the ball rolling for the ultra rich super clubs at the top of the league. They have two friendlies on Sky before the big kick-off.

Chelsea face Manchester United on the 8th August in the Community shield at Wembley.

Tottenham open the actual Premier League campaign televised on Sky. This game will be shown on Saturday 14th August.

The two teams which have the most televised games up till the end of November are Arsenal and Manchester United.

With the two friendlies Arsenal have a total of 11 games on tv. 10 on Sky and one on ESPN. Utd have 8 on Sky and 3 on ESPN.

Surprise, surprise the two other teams on double figures are Chelsea and Liverpool. Both teams have a total of 10 games on the box.

The list showing each teams totals comes out like this.

Arsenal have a total of 11 gamesManchester United also have 11 gamesChelsea have a total of 10 gamesLiverpool also have 10 gamesManchester City have a total of 8 games.Newcastle also have 8 games.Aston Villa have 7 gamesTottenham have 6 gamesEverton have 6 games.Stoke City have 5 gamesSunderland have 5 gamesWest Ham also have 5 gamesBolton have a whole 4 gamesBlackpool ammass a total of 3 gamesWest Brom also have 3 gamesBirmingham City have a mere 2 gamesBlackburn Rovers also have 2 gamesFulham are another with 2 gamesWigan Athletic also have 2 gamesWolverhampton Wanderers have 2 games

The usual rich clubs get the goodies while the rest get the left overs.

I for one do not see why Sky have upped the monthly rate to show this collection of games.

Liverpool failed miserably last year and failed to qualify for the Champions League. Not to worry though because they are the darlings of Sky and will get plenty of tv coverage to soften the blow.

Fulham gave us some of the best tv coverage last season as they heroicly fought their way to the finals of their European competition.

Manchester United and Chelsea were shown so often last season that we can still remember the blatant fouls and cheating from both teams as they fought for the title.

Spurs gave us some good games starting with their win over Liverpool. We also had the semi-final of the cup where Spurs lost to Pompey in a tight game full of excitement and drama.

Aston Villa threatened to break into the top four for a long time last season, faltering on the run-in. They were robbed in the Cup final and still tried to play football.

I may be the odd one out but I do not want to see Arsenal,Chelsea,Man Utd,and Liverpool as often as Sky seems to think I do.

The feeble minded old fogeys' at the Premier League really need to be replaced.

We have more money than ever coming into the coffers of the league. What do they do with it? Why, they hand it to the same people as got most of it last season.

This stupid mind numbing way of doing business should stop. Spurs who finished fourth obviously don't fit in with the more powerful clubs.

Though they finished fourth they have already four less appearances in front of the cameras.The reason is not easy to fathom.

Two other sides finished above the Kop outfit but score less well with the tv companies. Aston Villa and Man City both have less games.

The money coming from Sky and ESPN and all tv companies has to be seen to be shared more evenly and fairly.

With the top seven clubs from last season having the opportunity to appear on TV in european competition it would surely be fairer to have other teams share more of the English pay-out.

Apart from the fact that the Premier League keeps far too much when our football in this country is in deep trouble. The big few seem to be able top flex their muscles at the cost of every other team in the land.

Even the other teams in the same league don't appear to get a fair shake of the whip. Perhaps someone would like to explain to me why a team like Fulham has only two games televised when others have five times that.

Perhaps the Premier League should advertise the fact that no matter how well your teams do, your team will not disturb the well being of the few.

I am lucky as a fan because when my club came close to dying it was bought by a man with billions. He will get us back up to the Premier League and then we will be eligable to a share of the riches.

That will not change my stance on the fact that all money put into the game should be spread more evenly throughout our country and the leagues.

If we lose the foundation of our game we will lose it all. The money will disappear just as quickly as it appeared.

As much as we all love football, do we really think the money is spread fairly among the leagues. Even the Premier League clubs don't seem to be treated the same.

Comments

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Blimey O'Reilly they don't even share it even with their own teams in the league. That is disgraceful. Just exacly how do you explain to the little unwanted clubs that they have no chance of competing with the big boys.

Each club does not get paid all the Sky tv money when they are televised. All 20 clubs get 50% share of the money.25% of the money is shared out according to league position. The final 25% is shared out when they are televised.

I was about to acknowledge the fact that the error had been made. But the 25% of millions is more tnan 0% which is what the smaller clubs will receive.
Though our editor might have not been clear in his argument I agree that the tv coverage is unfairly distributed. I
f the money was a straight even money split for the games between all clubs it would still rankle with me as the big clubs still have preferential treatment. But that is me and I am often found to be a Saints come first fan.

Legod7 I agree that we are only talking about 25%. But 25% of such a huge amount of money is still a considerable sum. For a club like Wigan, or Fulham, to name but two, it could be the difference between being able to find a player to improve the team or staying as is.
Looking around the clubs with more tv coverage also sees complaints from the fans. This will lead to an article later as we look at this from another angle.

The difference between success and failure is getting bigger all of the time.
Higher payments for position and then for appearing in front of the cameras. Though the amount is smaller it is still a very large sum of money that we are talking about. Level the playing field, please.

Grass roots football is the base upon which the whole game rests. If that is allowed to go under then we will see an enormous fall out and breakdown of our beautiful game. I don't want to think about it but as long as nobody does we are simply heading towards the destruction of our game.

No they aren't worried - but they should be.
The former Retford Manager has had to give up the job he loved because he just wasn't getting paid - having a family to look after, he can't live like that - and I know Bradford Park Avenue are in the same boat too - it's very sad